MSU-West Plains, civic center to host geographers meeting

BRANSON MO NEWS:

This map of the state of Missouri will be on display during the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographer’s West Lakes Division Oct. 16-20 at the West Plains Civic Center. The map is on loan from the Missouri Geographic Alliance. (Photo courtesy the Missouri Geographic Alliance. (MGA/provided)

(West Plains) – Missouri State University-West Plains will host the 2017 American Association of Geographers annual meeting of the West Lakes Division October 19-21 at the West Plains Civic Center.
Keynote sessions include a presentation by Dr. Daniel Sui, arts and sciences distinguished professor and professor of geography, public affairs, public health and urban/regional planning at Ohio State University; and Dr. Julie Cidell, associate professor in the department of geography and geographic information science at the University of Illinois-Urbana.
Dr. Rajiv Thakur, assistant professor of geosciences at Missouri State-West Plains and chair of the AAG’s West Lakes Division, says students and faculty from schools in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas and California are expected to attend the conference.
The annual meetings of the AAG’s West Lakes Region provide a platform for teachers, researchers, students, geospatial professionals and policy makers to share recent developments in the discipline and display how their perspectives and tools are being used by educators, businesses, researchers and policy makers to address a wide range of scientific problems and societal needs.
Sui, who will speak at noon October 20, will discuss the topic “Does geography have its own reproducibility crisis? Thoughts on making geographic research more robust and reliable.” Since July 2016, Sui has been on an Intergovernmental Personnel Act assignment to serve as the division director for Social and Economic Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Cidell will speak at 6 pm October 20. She is currently AAG treasurer and …